A significant portion of the world's methanol is produced by the catalytic reaction of synthesis gas obtained by reforming hydrocarbons. The synthesis gas may be produced in a steam reformer, an autothermal reformer, or a partial oxidation reformer containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.
The majority of hydrogen is produced from a synthesis gas produced by the mentioned reforming technologies. For hydrogen production the hydrogen content in the syngas shad be as high as possible whereas for methanol production a suitable synthesis gas composition may be characterized by a hydrogen-carbon oxide molar ratio defined as:
            [              H        2            ]        -          [              CO        2            ]                  [      CO      ]        +          [              CO        2            ]      where [H2], [CO], and [CO2] are the mole fractions of the respective components in the synthesis gas.